Alexander Cann

The following are edited details from the best seller book by Mitchell Zukoff, "Lost in Shangri-La": Alexander Cann was the eldest child of H. V. Cann, prominent banker and Mabel Ross Cann. Moved to Canada and then Manhattan, where the elder Cann helped launch the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; the family returned 7 years later to Canada where Alex Cann attended the Royal Naval College of Canada. He returned to New York to study at Columbia University. Lacking a job, and having gambled away his inheritance on poker, he drifted to Hollywood. Being tall, dark and handsome,with a deep voice, he found his way into movie roles, as Alexander Cross, then Cann. where he had roles in "Fury", a Spencer Tracy film; in "Smart Blonde" with Glenda Farrell; and in "China Clipper", starring his drinking buddy, Humphrey Bogart. In 1937, again with Bogart starring, he had a part in "San Quentin". He landed bigger acting jobs including a western "Law for Tombstone"; and finally, played the bad guy, Black Jack Carson in the Hopalong Cassidy series of films.

In 1937, Cann as a ladies man and a gambler became involved in a scandal with a socialite that made headlines effectively ending his film career; he had one more film playing the lead in "The Human Bomb" in 1939.

By 1941, Cann had no job, had married and divorced 3 times. He joined the Royal Canadian Navy.

Blown out of the troop ship on its way to the South Pacific in 1943, and with a broken back he recuperated in Australia. A gifted storyteller, Cann convinced someone in the Canadian Navy that he was a filmmaker and they loaned Cann to the Australia section of the Netherlands Information Service. He covered combat in the Philippines and Borneo and was again blown out of the water by a kamikaze pilot in the Gulf of Leyte. News stories were appearing about the tragedy of several planes going down in flames in New Guinea, filled with Army personnel including WACs, most of whom died in the crashes; some survivors were reported stranded there. Cann surveyed the crash sites and requested a plane and a parachute at the Sentani airstrip. Completely untrained the erstwhile filmmaker drank a fifth of gin and prepared to jump telling the crew to push him out at the "go" signal if needed and said "I'm only going to do this once". He was found dumped in some bushes by crash survivors, "drunk as a loon". He proceeded to make a film of the crash treks by the survivors, "staging" some of scenes and included the Stone Age natives who gathered around them.

Eventually, the 15 surviving victims, including Cann were rescued with a daring glider snatch in 1945. Alexander Cann's real life had been more dramatic than any of his film roles; he resembled the filmmaker John Huston, also a son of a wealthy and famous man who drifted into wild adventures in his youth.

After 1945, Cann edited his New Guinea film into an 11-minute documentary called "Rescue from Shangri-La", including the glider rescue.